First randonnee (walk in the wild) this summer in the Metn district. Out of 12 so far.
Posted on: November 29, 2025
The first trip was to Na3ess in late August.
Doudou picked me up at 8 am. Great weather and sunny. We parked the car near a sandy road with a dirt remover machine. A sign that there are real estate development activities in the surrounding trail and it did not bode well.
The letdown was that almost all the forest parcels were privatized and surrounded with green wire barrier. Thus, we were not able to discover the ancient trails and were stuck to the main road in much of the trip.
I was pissed off and told Doudou next time I must bring with me a wire cutter to allow hikers to cut entrances and exits in these so-called private properties.
We climbed part of the trail surrounded by mega villas with high long walls (most probably owned by Emirate and Gulf pseudo-States. Yes, they build the wall first so that you cannot see the castle.
We passed the four known restaurants of Nasr, Fadel, Orsini and Yolla where they become heavily crowded on Sundays and are pretty expensive.
As we stepped inside the premises of Fadel we met three ladies sitting drinking coffee. They were the owners and sisters of the establishment and actually live there during winter season.
One of them knew Doudou when she worked at a pharmacy in the town of Bikfaya during the covid calamity
They invited us to have a cup of coffee, and I agreed without consulting Doudou who refrains from eating or drinking during the walk, but she was lenient with me at our first outing, and we talked at length about the climate change and Chernobyl devastating impact on the spread of cancer in Europe and Lebanon..
We took a side trail and ended up on a large and well-constructed cemented road (not asphalt) that led to the ancient water-bottled factory that closed two decades ago.
It struck me that this road is a special road and facing the mega square building of former Qatari first Lady Mosi, along with its high communication antenna.
I told Doudou this might be a USA headquarter for collecting intelligence pieces in the district.
I lately learned that the CIA has more agents in Paris (around 300) than French intelligence agents and they are located in a Qatari newly purchased building.
We drove to the Message de Paix establishment and bought “Le plat du Jour” and then to a favorite bakery to Doudou on the way to Abu Mizan and bought a packet of 5 loafs of thin delicious “sage” kind of bread.
I was back at home by 1:30 with food for 4 days.
درج عبلة؟ درج قديم و عالي ؤ وصعب و اكتر من ٢٠٠ درج ب يوصل دير مار يوحنا بل الخنشارة.
كانت عبلة تطرز عباءات للرهبان و الاساقفة.. تنزل من بيتها الى الدير و تاخد المناقيش للاولاد صعودا الى الخنشارة. كان في مجاعة. ثما تنزل . للعمل. ١٠٣ اعوام و ذات المنوال . لما منعت ماتت ب ظرف اسبوع.
Adonis Diaries 
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